For many Indigenous people involved in the food sovereingty movement, reconnecting to ancestral foods is extremely powerful. Every time someone learns a new recipe, plants a seed, and feasts together, we are helping to transmit knowledge, technologies, and skills from one generation to the next. In this episode, we'll talk with Shelley Buffalo—Meskwaki seed keeper—about her experience of revitalizing cultural foods, growing practices, and language. We'll also talk about her involvement in the growing seed rematriation movement, which is helping to return heritage seeds to their communities of origin.
Topics covered in this episode:

Min 2:08 : Meet Shelley Buffalo of the Meskwaki tribe
Min 6:35 : Favorite ancestral foods
Min 9:07 : Shelley’s journey to seedkeeping
Min 15:16 : The experience of rematriation
Min 18:09 : Seed keepers as cultural memory keepers
Min 19:13 : Removing barriers
Min 22:42 : Healing through traditional food practices
Min 25:09 : Struggles with language
Min 30:00 : Looking ahead
Min 32:27 : Improving land access


Spirit Plate is part of the Whetstone Radio Collective. Learn more about this episode of Spirit Plate at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at /WhetstoneRadio.
Guest: Shelley Buffalo (@kiwate_restlessheart)